Øystein "Pølsa" Pettersen (born 19 January 1983 in

Linderud Linderud is a neighborhood in Bjerke borough, Oslo, Norway. The area originally formed part of the estate of Linderud Manor. Linderud Manor Linderud Manor ''(Linderud gård'') was owned by the Catholic Church before the Reformation of 1536, an ...

) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier, television personality and podcast host who competed professionally from 2002 to 2019. He has six World Cup podiums, his best finish being second in individual sprint events. Together with

Petter Northug Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier and double Olympic champion. He won a total of 13 World Championship and two Winter Olympic gold medals with 20 medals overall (two gold, one silver and one bronze ...

he won gold medal in the team sprint event at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

in Vancouver, Canada. In the Individual Sprint he was one of three Norwegians to reach the six-man final. In 2020 he was a contestant in the celebrity edition of the norwegian TV show, 71° Nord and in 2021 he took part in Mesternes Mester. Pettersen also hosts his own

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

called Skipodden. A comedy style podcast about training and life, with an extra focus on winter sports. Skipodden has had many prominent guests including

John Arne Riise John Arne Semundseth Riise (born 24 September 1980) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a left back and a left midfielder. He is currently the manager of Toppserien club Avaldsnes. With 110 caps, Rii ...

Marit Bjørgen Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country W ...

Gunde Svan Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and auto racing driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. Svan won a total ...

and

Athletic career

Pettersen began competing in national events in 2002 and in junior international events in 2003. Although he has competed in dozens of events, he only finished in the top three at World Cup events five times, including second-place finished in Germany in 2006 and in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in 2009. He did not compete in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

, but did win a gold medal that year in the Scandinavian championships. Pettersen was selected to join the Norwegian team at the

in Vancouver, Canada. In his first Olympic event, the individual sprint, he placed sixth, one of three Norwegians who made it to the final competition round. He later won a gold medal with teammate

in the

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

event in a close finish with teams from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Originally, Pettersen was not going to compete in the event, but a last-minute withdrawal by world champion

Ola Vigen Hattestad Ola Vigen Hattestad (born 19 April 1982) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed from 2002 through 2018. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he became Olympic champion in the individual sprint event at Sochi in 2014 File:2014 Ev ...

due to illness left a slot open, and Pettersen was chosen to fill it. A number of teams were in contention following Pettersen's performance during the first leg of the race, and it was not until the last hill that Northug passed his opponents and took the lead entering the stadium where the race finished.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 gold)

World Championships

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 6 podiums – (5 , 1 )

Team podiums

* 1 victory – (1 ) * 3 podiums – (1 , 2 )

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pettersen, Oeystein 1983 births Living people Norwegian male cross-country skiers Olympic cross-country skiers of Norway Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics